Why is Microsoft silent about widely lamented pen accuracy issues?

[Blake Seaman]

Surface Pro - intermittent pen inaccuracy when hand is on the screen

At time of writing, the above topic has 39,744 views and 1358 replies.

Quoting IanHoover (original poster of problem at Microsoft answers),

Anyway, it doesn't seem to be a case of a faulty unit. Also, it seems to be the case that what is happening is that the pen corrects for parallax when it is tilted using the tilt sensor. When this problem presents itself, the parallax correction cuts out. However, it is not the case that the pen is registering no tilt, as line width is unaffected (in apps that vary line width based on tilt). So, for some reason the parallax correction only is affected by having electrical contact with the screen while inking.
to quote Beirot: "It seems that the new pen has a tilt sensor that allows it to compensate the parallax when tilting the stylus. For some reason, the behaviour of the sensor is being affected by grounding/electrical/magnetic issues due to the naked hand contact with the tablet (if I electrically isolate the contact of the hand with the pen the problem persists). Old Surface pens and the compatible new Wacom Ink don´t correct the parallax when tilting the stylus, so they don't show this random problem, they simply lose their accuracy." Thus, using an older pen or the wacom Bamboo pen "solves" the issue. As far as I am aware, Microsoft has not recognized the existence of the issue yet, which makes me less than optimistic that a solution will be forthcoming from them.

It seems lots of folks have had no issues, but as a mathematics student for whom every "x" "=" or "t" grows a tiny and obnoxious little tail if I'm not wearing a glove, I'm wondering why this hasn't been further addressed? Anyone know more about this?

My surface is, frankly, perfect in every other way. This one little issue weighs heavily on my opinion of the device.

 

[DJCBS]

I have also had this problem with the Surface Pro 5 (or 2017, whatever) when drawing. Which is even more annoying.

At first I thought it was a problem with me using a Surface Pro 3 pen with the tablet. With the SP3 pen, the problems were beyond awful with sudden enormous lines showing up (normally between the place where the palm was resting to the place where the pen tip was).

Using an old Surface pen definitely does NOT solve the issue.

So I went ahead and bought the overpriced 2017 "New Surface Pen". The problem is almost gone however, it still has accuracy problems. The palm rejection software is clearly horrible and it is disappointing that Microsoft has done ZERO to address the issue.
So much so that I even considered switching to an iPad Pro with the iPencil since the feedback I have is that it works pretty flawlessly.

You'd think, with so much emphasis on inking, Microsoft would have figured this out by now...

 

[Andrew G1]

"It seems lots of folks have had no issues, but as a mathematics student for whom every "x" "=" or "t" grows a tiny and obnoxious little tail if I'm not wearing a glove, I'm wondering why this hasn't been further addressed?"

I haven't had this issue. I use my SP2017 for OneNote (2016, and recently the W10 version) and I have not had pen accuracy issues, going on a year now. I am a graduate student who is constantly taking notes, in class, doing readings and figuring out math for papers. I noted a big improvement from the Surface 3 pen, which I had also used in a similar fashion. It's not perfect, though; I can tell that if we had the pen technology in my Samsung phone, the experience would probably be better.

Either way, I hope folks can figure out what's going on. I would hate recurring problems during inking (like all the bugs in OneNote UWP!).

 

[Cruzer1]

Pen inaccuracies only a handful of times for me, where the inking is either way off from where the pen tip is or some weird 'tail' appears after every pen input. Goes away eventually. But I'm not a heavy pen user, more casual, I use it on websites and pdfs for note taking, or sometimes in tablet mode to enter text using my handwriting (excellent text recognition by MS here I must say). Back to the point, the handful of times is probably only 20% of all my pen inputs. That 20% would be annoying if you frequently use the pen though. Annoyed me in a client meeting when my notes were getting messy. On a i5/8gb SP 2017.

 

[Brett Gilbertson]

Yes, this is an issue on all Surface Pro 2017 and Surface Book 2 15" models when using the new pen. The non-tilt surface pro 4 pen does not produce the issue. I've tested dozens of different models and they all have this problem. Glad you are bringing some light to this because it is a major issue with what should be a hero experience...

Likr others I initially thought that I did not have the issue as it only presents under specific conditions. It's easier to reproduce in older desktop apps like PowerPoint and OneNote 2016.

 

[ChristopherD]

To be honest, I have felt the pen to be less accurate since the April update. I don't have concrete information on my experience, but on multiple times I've felt that it doesn't seem as smooth as when I bought the device, that the "jitter" effect feels more pronounced when drawing slow, straight lines, and that the positioning sometimes seems "off."
(Surface Pro 2017, Surface Pen latest model, Windows 10 all current updates)

 

[Loc Ngo]

Surface Pro - intermittent pen inaccuracy when hand is on the screen

At time of writing, the above topic has 39,744 views and 1358 replies.

Quoting IanHoover (original poster of problem at Microsoft answers),



It seems lots of folks have had no issues, but as a mathematics student for whom every "x" "=" or "t" grows a tiny and obnoxious little tail if I'm not wearing a glove, I'm wondering why this hasn't been further addressed? Anyone know more about this?

My surface is, frankly, perfect in every other way. This one little issue weighs heavily on my opinion of the device.

I have found out if you put a finger to the space between the hinge and the body, the accuracy issue will stop. I think it might be caused because of the (very) slight wobble whenever you press on the screen, and the pen is too sensitive it detects such slight movements.

 

[Wevenhuis]

Surface Pro - intermittent pen inaccuracy when hand is on the screen

At time of writing, the above topic has 39,744 views and 1358 replies.

Quoting IanHoover (original poster of problem at Microsoft answers),



It seems lots of folks have had no issues, but as a mathematics student for whom every "x" "=" or "t" grows a tiny and obnoxious little tail if I'm not wearing a glove, I'm wondering why this hasn't been further addressed? Anyone know more about this?

My surface is, frankly, perfect in every other way. This one little issue weighs heavily on my opinion of the device.

I've had some pen accuracy issues. I'v e discovered the standard HB pen tip wears quickly on frequent use. I've replaced the tip already twice in the last 3 months. It usuallyb resolves the problem. But if the tips are that indurable it's expensive to use the stylus, because a pack of new tips cost 20 dollars per pack. Even though I just need the HB pen tip only. So in my experience, the hardware durability is the issue at hand.

 

[Chris_NH]

Yes. I have this problem in my otherwise fantastic 2017 Surface Pro. In my case, and I believe 1000's of others, I experience the pen inaccuracy consistently if I don't use a digital artist glove specifically designed to improve palm rejection and the Surface Pro Pen 2H tip. I have gone to Best Buy and Microsoft Stores and demo'd the problem on floor units to the staff at these stores. I have seen reply after reply on the MS Community Forum thread devoted to this issue that convince me I'm not alone on this. Microsoft … inking on a Surface is one of Windows 10 key differentiating features. Why are you not addressing this issue? It's been a year. Where are you???

 

[dragontattoo123]

I am unaware about this, but hoping that this shouldn't affect microsoft derivative market. I am going to check that through here